September 06, 2011
India to invest $6.5 billion on communication infrastructure over 2 years
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In an interview with Tokyo today and per Bloomberg’s website, Sam Pitroda adviser on public information infrastructure to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that the next phase of growth in India’s telecommunications industry will come from the expansion of broadband connectivity to cover government offices, manufacturing and media. Pitroda continued saying that India needs to spend “tens of billions” of dollars on its communications infrastructure in order to expand its broadband network, as Asia’s third-biggest economy targets better public access to information and services.
According to a report released in April by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the number of telephone connections in India is expected to reach 1 billion by March 2015. The world’s most populous nation after China had more than 846 million phone subscribers and 11.9 million broadband connections at the end of March.
The report shows that the increase in subscribers will require additional investments in telecommunications equipment of about USD 19 billion in 2015 and USD 34 billion by 2020.
“Only about 12-13 percent of the demand for telecom equipment is being met by domestic production” the Regulator said in the report. The report highlighted that the demand supply gap and the imbalance between the exports and imports of the telecom equipment provide a good opportunity for manufacturing of telecom equipment in India by both the global and Indian companies.
Talking directly to the Japanese investors, Pitroda said “Japan’s equipment makers now have a chance to supply gear for the broadband networks in India. The Indian nation plans to invest as much as 300 billion rupees or USD 6.5 billion in the next two years to expand broadband services, Pitroda has said back in July.
Updated: September 06, 2011 4:24 PM
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